In This Corner: What Indie/Local Promoters Do Wrong

As I’ve stated in previous articles, I love wrestling. I’ve been to hundreds of wrestling events. Even in my late thirties, I find that attending a live wrestling event is a lot like reliving my childhood. The excitement, the larger than life characters, and the overall spectacle of the event.

But now that I am older and have an understanding of how the business works, the experiences of a live wrestling show are not always the best. Now, before I get to my point, I want to preface that I have no idea how the inside of the wrestling business works. I have never promoted a show, I don’t know the costs involves, or how all the moving pieces work. I am however a paying fan, and sometimes what I see isn’t right or doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t have anything to do with one particular promotion, and pertains to any independent, local promotion out there.

So, what does the local/independent promotion do wrong from a fans perspective? Let’s examine.

1. Lack of Advertisement. I see this happen for a lot of indie wrestling promotions. I’ve been in the music industry in the past, and much like as it is in any other business, advertising is key. I see a lot of promoters who fail to use social media to their advantage. Creating events and inviting friends on Facebook takes seconds. A Twitter post takes seconds. Use these to your advantage.

Also, believe it or not, not everyone is connected to social media. I see a lot of promotions who do not hang up any flyers, or rely on fans to hang up flyers for them. Flyers are an old school way to target many demographics. Don’t just rely on fans to spread the word. Don’t rely on someone else to do the work for you, when you have no interest in putting in the effort along with the fans. Don’t be surprised when you draw a small house when you don’t advertise.

2. Pay your wrestlers. As I said earlier, I am not involved in the wrestling business, however I have multiple friends/people I’ve met who are on the indie scene. One of the things I hear about the most is wrestlers not getting paid. One example in particular is a company’s year-long reigning champion not getting paid or having to have another wrestler’s mother give payoffs because the promoter couldn’t. As a fan, I find this ridiculous.

3. Plan your event so it runs smoothly. I realize that things come up, and playing music in clubs I realize a multitude of things can happen. However, when I went to a recent local event it took almost fifty minutes to set up a steel cage for a main event. It was clumsy, awkward, and many fans got up and left figuring either the event was over, or the promotion didn’t have a clue what it was doing. At least make it look like you know what you are doing or hire some people who do.

4. Don’t act like a big shot. I’ve met many promoters/owners who think they are God’s gift to professional wrestling. They don’t want to hear fans opinions, they don’t have time for the fans, and think that everything they do is better than every other promotion in the country. I understand the need to be confident in what you do, however, there is maybe a handful of promoters out there today that have earned the right to have a bit of swagger to them. But then again, they are drawing thousands of people a night to shows, and not fifty in a hotel ballroom.

5. Don’t run promotions/advertising that won’t draw fans. I’ve seen many promotions come up with creative ways to advertise and involve local celebrities to help generate ticket sales. But I have also seen promotions have local radio DJ’s involved to wrestle matches that make a mockery out of wrestling, and don’t draw an extra attendees. If you are going to bring people in, try to bring in people that actually have fans interest, not a couple of wannabes from a local radio station who pay no attention to your promotion unless they are making a mockery of it while having a wrestling match during an event.

Once again, maybe I am too old to understand today’s indie product. Could I do it better? Probably not, but I most certainly could do it differently.

What are your thoughts on what indie promotions do wrong and how could they fix it ?